With annual revenue in the US payments market topping $1.7 trillion, the size of the opportunity is obvious. Yet in the race to claim their share, many companies overlook the single most impactful lever available to them: having the right commercial leaders in post.
As an essential part of modern commerce, the payments sector is entering a golden period of growth. Analysis by Mordor Intelligence projects that the US market will generate revenue of $3.35 trillion by 2031.
Several factors are driving this growth. Chief among them is the rapid expansion of embedded finance, which research by Mambu and AWS estimates could be worth $7.2 trillion globally by 2030.
With this much capital on the line, the stakes rise and business moves faster. Companies need to bring new ideas to market more quickly than ever, while enterprise clients’ needs grow more complex and the regulatory burden increases by the day.
Getting past the obstacles between your business and this opportunity takes careful planning and smart risk assessment. In the end, though, every plan to drive revenue depends on having the brightest minds to shape your strategy.
“The talent is not missing. The decision-making framework is.”
Recognising that the right people in key positions ultimately drive success is arguably the easiest part of the puzzle. Even so, I’ve seen businesses make the same recruitment mistakes time after time.
Companies often evaluate candidates against the wrong criteria. More often than not, they hire for today rather than tomorrow, and the pace of change in payments simply doesn’t allow for that. Payments leaders should be hired for their ability to deliver what the business will need 6 to 12 months from now, which may be radically different from the skills that got you where you are today.
We also see many hiring processes take far too long, while the most talented candidates are snapped up by companies that can move quickly.
Slow, poorly planned senior recruitment creates a cascade of problems. It’s common to see a failed hire cause 18 months’ worth of issues: pipeline gaps widen, and CEO time that should go into closing deals and leading the business is absorbed by the fallout.
You’ll hear people say that top talent is scarce and that finding a real gem takes luck. I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. At PaymentGenes, we see hundreds of qualified commercial leaders ready to make a difference.
A good process has to be right from the start, and this is where many payments firms make their first mistake.
You need to shift your mindset from a transactional search to intelligence-led hiring. That means taking the time to diagnose exactly what your business needs for its next phase of growth, and which skills your ideal candidate will need to deliver it.
This calls for flexible thinking and a degree of introspection. There is no single template for the ideal hire, even across the lifecycle of one business. Understand what great looks like at your company’s specific stage of growth, and only then will you be well set up for a successful search.
The next step is market intelligence. This often means leaning on a trusted recruitment partner that works inside the market every day and can share reliable data on salary benchmarks, talent availability and average time to hire.
This is the approach we take at PaymentGenes when partnering on a senior commercial hire. Before we explore the market and our extensive network, we take time to understand your vision and the realities of the recruitment landscape, so the search is set up to succeed.
It might sound like simple advice, but too often companies rush into recruitment when they should step back, understand their needs and the market, and make the best possible decision.
The most successful payments companies of the next decade are building their teams right now.
They approach commercial hiring with the care it deserves. They look inward when they need to, and bring in external partners when the moment is right. The fintech firms that get these high-impact hires right over the next 12 to 24 months will be the ones leading the industry for the next ten years.
Excellent commercial leadership hiring also compounds over time. Good decision-makers make good decisions, so having the right people in post early makes it far more likely that future hires will be just as impactful as the business grows.
I can tell you from experience that there is no shortage of talent in fintech and payments. The pool is deep. Where a generalist recruiter might not look past the top line of a CV, at PaymentGenes we focus on understanding the market, its people, and how to bring the two together to drive growth.
If you’re looking to make senior commercial hires now, or simply want to talk through your thinking on fintech recruitment, get in touch with the PaymentGenes team.
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